Prompt #7

The VIPS reading buddies program was my first hands on tutoring experience with children. When I first started tutoring I was nervous and excited at the same time. I wanted to get to know all of the students and I wanted them to get to know me. I wanted to make sure that I did the best that I could to try to help these children succeed. One of the games I played with the children to help them with their reading skills was the dolch dice game. This was their favorite thing to do out of all the activities. For this game each student had to roll the dice and whichever number it landed on they had to write the word above it. They also had to come up with a sentence using the word they got. This was their favorite part because they were allowed to use their imagination and come up with their own sentence. At first when the students would get their word they would have trouble reading it and coming up with a sentence. By my fifth session I would take out the list of words and as I was writing them the students would be reading all of the words aloud. There was still a few they didn’t know but at that point I was happy to see that these strategies were working for these children to help them learn to read. By working with the students I have learned so much and I know that they have learned a lot from me. This experience has been so rewarding and I am I glad to know that I could help. It has helped shape my teacher identity because I am learning new strategies for becoming a better teacher. I am also getting a great experience working with a group of such diverse students. This will help me one day when I am a teacher because I will be prepared for any challenging situations. When I become a teacher I am going to enforce that everyone should be treated equally in the classroom. One thing I would like to do in my classroom to make students feel more welcome is by learning all of their different cultures. Students will enjoy talking about their culture and listening to each other. After completing this service learning experience I now have a better understanding of all the hard work it takes to be a teacher. I am ready to take on new challenges and help children become skillful learners!